Apparatus for recovering gold and silver



S. A. GVILES Oct. 13, 1931.l

`APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING GOLD AND SILVER Filed Nov. 26. 1929 3mm/whoa ed more'particularly for use in carrying out" rafntea oa. v13, 1931 'Y STELLE A; GrLEs, or IUTCHINSON, KANSAS Q APrARATus.roR-aEoovERINe eoLDANn s'ILv-ER ap'pnealioa mea uovem'br'ze, 19x29. seiiai Namaste.

. This invention lrelates to apparatus adapt-v the method of recovering-goldand silver from inexpensive-to manufacture andwill be lso constructed that low grade ores such as shales may be tr-rated to remove limitingy elements thaty preventordinary methods of recovery of goldandsilver being effective.

' A further object of the 'invention topro#` vide an apparatus in which thelimiting ele-v l `further object of the invention isto provide an apparatus of this kind iny Which the stream of heated pulverized shalevor the` like gravitates through. cooling coils which cool and chill the material so as to positively lprevent the formation/of slag or the iuxing of the material which would resealthe gold.

With the Vabove and 'other objects in view the invention Vconsists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter 4fully` described and claimed, it'being understood that various modifications may be resorted to within the scope vof the appended claims without de# artino from the s irity or 'sacrificing an of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of the specification, n

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through the apparatus with `parts in elevation, and v 1 Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. f

Referring now to the drawingsin .which like characters of reference designate similar parts7 they apparatus is Vshownto comprise an oxidizing chamber 10 which is preferably formed of steelandis surrounded by al waterr low. grade ores as describedJin myjappli#y ber' 10 is av reducing chamber v13 preferably.

cation iled November-:'22, 1929, Serial lo,

*in object of the present invention istintov provide apparatus whichfwill be simple and jacket 11,a steamdome 12 being in communication with thewater jacket as shown. n

Communicating with. the oxidizing'cham constructed of brick 4and having an '6"outlet stack 14 'i which is equipped with a d ustcoL lector 15ste permit the yrecovery of escaping particles. Thestack'is provided with'a horizontalportion 16 into' which a spray of water is .admitted through. 9J Pipe'l? controlledby Y6ay a'valve 18. .'Ordinafrily, .this spray ofywater serves to recover r'escaping particles butl v wheresulphur and arsenic are present in the* material the spray" is dispensed "with landY the dust collectorl Y15; relied upon.l

The bottom 19 ofthe apparatus slopes from .the horizontal portion 16 of thestack v,forwardly at anangle such that the material Willflo'w downwardly towards the front endv f v l of the apparatus. The front wall 20 is' dis-V posed at V*an anglev of about so that ma-Y terial vigravitating froml this wall into the collection. Vpity formed vby Ythis wall and the bottom portion or outlet 21fof the pit; y v

ly:v groundjor .ThehopperfQZ fV rthe fine pulverize'dl shalefor'i like vmaterial which isto be treatechl is mounted at the front or charg-y ingend'of the apparatus Iandjdischarges itsy contents' intoianfairl blast pipe 23 which is .80? controlled a valve 241 and terminates in ,an upwardly "directed nozzle 25 that lserves ytoflc'ause t'he'finely4 pulverized material to be c directed upwardly in an archedv stream v through the.oxidizing'chamber v10and into 5" the:Y reducing chamber 13. The material fromv the pulverized arch stream gravitates tothe collection. pit floor 19 and "while drop-l e.

plngji's subjectedfto an oxidizing llame as` will now'be described., I 90 "A fuel pipel 26 isconducted into thefurf` nace,f the fuel preferably being oil, gas, pul- A verizedcoal orany other desired fuel. The fuel pipe is controlled by a valve 27 andlis Y equippedywith an upwardly directed, nozzle 95,

28v which'causes the liame to arch upwardly and meet the I.stream ofy inelypulveri'zed f materia-1 and heatthe'latter during its pas- Y sage through the oxidizing chamber lOand" re ucingA 'chamber 13; Theoiygen' ofy the 100 4 will drop quickly to the lowest' .Y l

air blast from the pipe 23 supplies an excess of oxygen in the chamber l0 so that the flame becomes an oxidizing flame and consumes the gaseous limiting elements in the finely pulverized shale Vfor example, such elements being carbon, sulphur, arsenic, phosphorus and the like. K

A temperature gage 29 ismounted on the wall of the oxidizing chamber as shown so that the temperature may be watched as 'it is highly detrimentalto allow `the temperature to rise above 960 centigrade during the heating of the material. It will fbe understood that by manipulation of the valve 27 the fuel supply may be controlled to control the temperature or the same result may be accomplished by manipulation ofthe valve 24; to cause a greater or lesser amount of the pulverized material to be blown into the .p chamber l0..

Arranged in the reducing chamber 13 is a water coil 30., one coil -beingshown for the purpose of illustration, vbut it is -to be understood that any number of these coils may be employed. Thecooling coil is sufficient in extent to reach from the bottom of the chamberwhere itis `fed through an inlet pipe 3l controlled by a valve 32, to approximately the dome of the chamber as shown, where it enters the water jacket ll through an outlet pipe 33. The gravitating` material from the arched stream of finely pulverizedy material drops through the .water lcoil which chills and cools the particles sufficiently to prevent formation of slag with ,consequent res'e'aling` of the gold when the material .accumulates on the bottom 19. of the apparatus,

Ain endlessV conveyor 3.4 is arranged with its Vlower end projecting into the collection pit at the lowest point "thereof, so that .thev

material will ybe collected bythe conveyor and-carried upwardly to a hopper. .354 in which ,the material is regroundin carryingT out the final stepV of preparing thematerial for the recovery of the colloidal vgold there-- 1n. Y

In order that the. reducing chamberl may be supplied with an excess. of oxygen so kas to effect complete removal of carbon from the material, an air inlet pipe 36 is conducted into` the chamber 13 and is controlled by a valve 37.

It will here be noted that the purpose of the water jacket ll is to assistv in; maintain ing a uniform temperature in the oxidizing chamber 10 as otherwise this chamber might become so hot as -to cause the material to li-ux or form slag which would be highly detrif mental to the proper preparation ofthe ma.- ferial for subsequent treatment. Fur-then more, the steam dome l2v is provided with an outlet pipe 3.8 which is controlledqby a valve 39 and permits `of the. surplus heat bei-ng utilized in the production of steamA for the i operation 0f any .desired` machinery.

Having thus described the invention, l claim:

1. An apparatus of the cla-ss described comprising an oxidizing chamber, a reducing chamber communicating with the oxidizing chamber, a stack having a horizontal portion venting the reducing chamber, a collec`- tion pit beneath and communicating with both of said chambers and having a downward'ly sloping bottom extending from said horizontal ,portion of the stack to nearly the front end of said oxidizing chamber, a water vSpray pipe entering-said horizontal portion of the stack, substantially at the upper end of said inclined bottom, a fuel supply pipe entering' said oxidizing chamber, a pipe for supplying nely ground material. under airpressure to said oxidizing chamber 2. Anapparatusof the class described com pris-ing an oxidizing chamber, a reducing chamber communicating with the oxidizing chamber, a stack having a. horizontal portion venting the reducing chamber, a collection pit beneath and communicating with both of said chambers and Vhavinga downwardly sloping bottom extending from said hori zontal 'portion of the stacl:l .to substantially the front end of said oxidizing chamber, a water spray-.pipe entering said horizontal. portion of the stacksu'bstantially at the u;p per end of said inclined bottom, a cool-ing coil disposed in said reducing chamber, a fuel supply pipe entering said oxidizing chamber.'

and a pipe for supplying finely'ground ma ferial under air pressure to` said oxidizing y STELLE. A. erLEs, [n a] 

